I have decided to take measures to an extreme.

I absolutely will not play Half-Life2 or any of its mods until it is released.

I am following Dantastic's hunger strike lead on this, but since I rarely eat while playing video games anyway, I am upping the ante on his feeble attempt at coercing Valve to release their game regardless of how it will play on my Trident 1mb card.

Also, it's been a while since I've gone on a murderous rampage due to the effects a really good video game can have on my psyche. I'm hoping HL2 will once again help me to break that barrier since GTA III just doesn't quite push me to the edge anymore.

You are so wrong on so many levels. There are those of us who remember back in 1999 Valve was talking about a network of gaming isps called Powerplay. When they were discussing it a lot of what they were pushing sounded suspiciously like what Steam eventually became. Also, remember the first Steam beta? it was like 3 years ago. And remember that second Steam beta? That lasted for like 18 months. Yeah, completely a last minute idea.

Indeed? I was unaware of that. Implementation still feels rushed, somehow, though.

Trust me when I say that I've seen this once or twice before. Perhaps my nose is wrong, or perhaps it's just the implentation that's rushed. We'll have to see.

The second account you're wrong on is that, guess what? VALVE LIES TO PEOPLE BECAUSE IT HELPS THEIR MARKETING!

No kidding. You neglected to quote the bit where I pointed out this possiblity.

You're talking and thinking about HL2 more than you are Doom3, right?

No kidding. Doesn't matter what I talk about, only what I buy. A month ago, I had a preorder in for HL2. Today, it's cancelled.

How's that for the genius of the Valve marketing machine?

Seriously, come on. Apply Hanlon's Razor, won't you?

HL2 doesn't need marketing shenanigans which will *only* be taken note of by those who were already going to buy HL2. Kinda silly, if you think about it.

...from laughing...

It's just a small hitch - they just need to re-write the entire engine, and completely re-design the game.

Nothing to it.

HA HA HA HA HA...(gasp gasp)...

More proof that when you have a faucet in your head, your brains tend to leak out.

-tAE-

This comment was edited on Sep 25, 02:19.

Just found Out.
Microsoft actually paid off Gabe to delay Half-Life2 so that Halo PC would sell better!

My guess is that HL2 is more or less ready to go, and that what is holding things up is all this Steam nonsense. If there were still significant fixing to do on HL2, enough so that they could not make their release date, they would have known long before now.

The whole Steam project smells of nothing so much as a last-minute idea that grew, as software projects often grow, out of hand. It's called "creeping featurism", and it most frequently happens when someone who doesn't listen to his software engineers is calling the shots.

You are so wrong on so many levels. There are those of us who remember back in 1999 Valve was talking about a network of gaming isps called Powerplay. When they were discussing it a lot of what they were pushing sounded suspiciously like what Steam eventually became. Also, remember the first Steam beta? it was like 3 years ago. And remember that second Steam beta? That lasted for like 18 months. Yeah, completely a last minute idea.

The second account you're wrong on is that, guess what? VALVE LIES TO PEOPLE BECAUSE IT HELPS THEIR MARKETING! You're talking and thinking about HL2 more than you are Doom3, right? Why? Because of artificial contraversy! They had to wait for the ATI contraversy to die down before they could announce the delay so that the delay contraversy would have its full impact. HL2 is NOT ready now. No one in the gaming industry with half a brain thought valve would make this deadline. When I heard it announced at E3 I knew it wouldn't make the deadline.

http://www.gamershell.com/news_BHalf-Life2BGold.shtml

1) you never hit your release data.

Then why have one?! At least why have a public release date? I agree with the guy saying that maybe the game companies need to take a lesson from Scotty. Tell us it'll be out in four years, deliver it in three, be a hero.

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~ WarPig ~ Yeah they're fun, but they're only games.

Valve can say what they want and release HL2 when it want. You are not their boss, or their dad. Quit acting like Valve owes YOU something.

If it wasn't for Counter-Strike, Half-Life would be in the $9.99 bargain bin at EB.

Valve is arrogant. Not only that, but their marketing plan is evily good. The source engine does not have a single feature that the DOOM3 engine doesn't have, and yet it is heralded as the "engine of tomorrow." Ridiculous. They've boasted so much and generated so much hype about their new physics engine(which isn't even theirs) and DirectX9 shaders that they've actually made everyone forget about how amazing DOOM3 looked at E3 two years ago. Incredible.

VoodooV, Half-Life 2 being delayed is not a marketing scheme. That conspiracy idea is the most retarded thing ever posted on these boards, and that includes everything Fredrickson has ever said.

Games can't be released like movies. For one thing, timing the release with technology is vital, plus it takes a lot longer to make games than it does to make movies. And in the programming world, what you run into is the human factor: there is no such thing as bug free code. Here are some things to know about software development:

1) you never hit your release data.
2) there are always gigantic bugs found near the end of the project, resulting in massive amounts of time spent on fixing and testing said bugs.
3) Murphy's law: anything bad that can happen will happen. You guys may laugh at this, but it's true. Murphy lurks in code like some sort of ghost freak, and just when you're about to release, he fucks everything up.

99% of the time games slip. So do other applications. The human factor makes code un-perfect, and people always think they're faster than they really are.

Also, don't forget that humans wrote such tools as VB, Java, C++, etc. Our own coding languages aren't perfect either.

I'm not Save more money on upgrades.

Dear Blue's News community member

thank you so much for your comments, thus fueling the glorius Half Life 2 Hype Machine (tm) Your bitter hatred for our marketing practices have effectively skyrocketed the publicity for the inevitable release of our ground-breaking game. Isn't it great (and ironic) how the advances in marketing methodology allow us to convert even the most rage-filled, poorly-spelled, criticism into the means to increase the visibility of our company and our market share. Thank you again for your support

Sincerely,

The Official, Unofficial Valve Spokesperson.

Yeah, but they split Kill Bill up into 2 movies to earn more cash... Not to mention they have been hyping that movie for a couple of years now...

My point is that if a person is fan of something they are going to read up on their fanatical subject on a regular basis whether it is a Tarantino movie, a rock band like nine inch nails, a game like half-life2, or the biggest hype machine of all Jesus Christ. They aren't reading up on their fanatical object of desire because the hype is being shoved down their throats from entertainment industry marketing people. Rather, it is because as fans, they are out searching for the hype on the net, in mags, and on TV. Shit, I know a lot of people who don't even know what half-life is.

I get excited about games and yeah I get disappointed at delays but I am not going to get all upset and spam some dude's email because he didn't get his game out when he said he would... Although, I have been tempted to drive to New Orleans to give Trent Reznor a kick in the ass but that's because he is a lazy bastard.

If it doesn't affect anyone else, then do it.

So I'm sitting here watching a baseball game when the trailer to Tarantino's Kill Bill comes on and I think, "I really gotta see that". And the thing is, I know exactly when I can go see it if I want to.

This gets me thinking that the gaming industry - getting as big as it is - should maybe start running itself, PR wise, more like the movie industry. Especially when it comes to major titles like HL2. Why not finish the game, then hype the shit out of it, then tell us when it will hit the stores, and then actually release it?

I know they want to make their money as soon as possible, but in the long run I don't see why this wouldn't work much better than the way things are handled now. The gaming industry has long left the garage but the way releases are handled is still very amateurish.




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~ WarPig ~ Yeah they're fun, but they're only games.

This comment was edited on Sep 24, 22:15.

I'd be more inclined to trust the date that EB has... 11/14/03

http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/235059.asp

I hope to god this game isn't going to be a christmas present to myself...

I'm steamed that Half-Life 2 isn't coming out!

Half-Life 2 was on track for a September 30th release. Then there was this video card problem & they decided that they would push out the release if they had to do so, but they still thought that they could get Half-Life 2 released on time with steam & then release retail boxes in November. Then Steam went official & it’s a useless piece of shit & valve tried to fix it on the lab test-boxes but the program just sucked & they finally admitted to themselves that if they tried to sell content over Steam, it would just make a whole lot of grief. No one would be able to play it, most wouldn’t even be able to download it. So they canned the whole thing & said, we’ll give ourselves a couple more months to get Steam working.

This isn’t about Half-Life 2, that game has been ready, and if it was sent to the presses & put into stores right now today, you would love it & have a great time playing it. This is about Steam, that fucking piece of shit toilet-ware program that sucks so much ass that homos fear it. Die Steam!!!!! DIE!!!!!!!

lol what a sick joke :p

I'm sure it's a content delay. It takes a long time to build textures, monsters, maps, and the like with graphic engines like this.

I think if it were a content delay, they would have known long before this.

Of course, it's possible that they did, and just didn't tell anyone.

What made Half-Life? A good game. What made it a classic? Counter-Strike.

I disagree. I think that Half-Life was a classic in its own right. BUT...it was a classic for reasons of content design, not technology. It was built on someone else's engine, and nothing about the tech was particularly inovative, or even close to the cutting edge.

Half-Life was great because of its immersive story, and well-designed evironments and characters.

Valve has only 1 complete game under their belt. They're not genius.

It does indeed sound like they are starting to believe their own hype. And we all know what happens when game designeers go too far down that road. Do I need to say the name?

Yes, they kept quiet about it for a long time, unlike the name I won't mention, which was smart. But they should have kept quiet until they knew they could hit their release date. It was a smart marketing strategy and they should have stuck with it.

Look at what's happened to public opinion.

A month ago, everyone's reaction was "Holy ...*&*(^. Must...get...game...".

Now the doubts are starting to creep in. First the whole Steam fiasco, now the delays (most likely on account of same)...

I think they are trying to do too much, too fast; a common indication of hubris.

My advice to them, were I in a position to give such, would be as follows:

"Concentrate on getting HL2 out the door. Delay Steam, and just release HL2 with WON IDs. Then you can focus all your effort on fixing Steam, making it reliable and 'bullet-proof'. Then release it as an optional service. If it's good, people will quickly adapt it.
Yes, this does prevent you from doing certain things you wanted to dowith Steam, but a dog who chases two rabbits at once will catch neither."

Plot thickens? =P

http://forums.hl2central.net/index.php?showtopic=982

hehe shacknews is saying that's the fake. haha who knows.. i find it funny

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Bull?

http://www.gamershell.com/news_BHalf-Life2BGold.shtml